Great Wolf Lodge: My Favorite Family Resorts

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Consumer travel guru Wendy Perrin is picking her personal favorite family resorts and family vacations, with the help of her ten-year-old son. Today's family resort pick is the Great Wolf Lodge chain of indoor water parks.

Why Great Wolf Lodge made my list: Because this chain of indoor water park resorts is a godsend for families in sun-challenged states who want to escape the winter cold without having to board a plane.

A bit about this list: In a 12-part series, I’ll be sharing my personal picks for the best kid-friendly resorts. Now, every family is different—and, mercifully, my children have not hit the teen years yet—so the places I’ve chosen won’t suit everyone, but they’re the ones that have worked best for me (exhausted working mom), my husband (exhausted stay-at-home dad), and our kids (hyperkinetic 8- and 9-year-old boys). Together the four of us made a list of the 30-or-so resorts we’ve been to as a family, and then we deliberated, debated, and drilled down until we just couldn’t eliminate any further. We ended up with our top 12 resorts, which I’ll be revealing here, in alphabetical order, over the next two weeks. Because a child’s perspective is crucial, Charlie, my almost-10-year-old, has even contributed his own review of each resort and his advice for kids heading there. And Charlie and I have rated each property on a scale of 0 to 5 smiles.

Hydroplunge

Double Barrel Drop

Casey Klein

MagiQuest, Great Wolf Lodge Concord

Water park

Family cabana, Great Wolf Lodge Wisconsin Dells

Jason Miczek

Wolf Den suite, Great Wolf Lodge Niagara

Casey Klein

Ten Paw Alley, Great Wolf Lodge Poconos

What I liked most:Great Wolf Lodge was crucial to the maintenance of my wintertime sanity back when my kids were three- and five-year-old Energizer bunnies and I was desperate to find ways for them to work off their pent-up energy during those long, freezing months when outdoor play was curtailed. I could give you a laundry list of all of the parent-friendly touches—the many conscientious lifeguards, the water features for tots who can’t swim yet, the childproof room design, the bedtime stories in the lobby, etc.—but here’s what really makes these resorts parent-friendly: Your kids will be so worn out that they’ll be asleep by 8:30. Room rates are high, but they include use of the water park from 1 p.m. on the day you arrive until 9 p.m. on the day you leave, so you can pay for one night but get two days of water park use. Adults also get a bit of an escape in the form of hidden hot tubs for grownups only and a bar at the pool.

But keep in mind: First, there’s no supervised child-care center where someone will watch your offspring for two hours if you want to go to the spa. Second, if your children don’t swim yet, it can be nerve-wracking because you’ve got to watch and chase them every second. If your kids are good swimmers and tall enough to ride the big-kid slides, you can relax a lot more. Third, the food at the Pocono Mountains property (which is the one my family has been to three times) was terrible—greasy and unhealthy—so be prepared to drive to the nearest strip mall for dinner.

Says Charlie: “I’ve been going to the Great Wolf Lodge since I was four. This water park has something for everyone. There are water slides for ages 2 to 65. They also have a wave pool, pool basketball, a lily pad obstacle course, big floating snakes and turtles you can climb on, and a lazy river. There’s also a bowling alley, an arcade, a kids’ spa, and MagiQuest—which, in case you don’t know, is like a place where you’re trying to go on a quest where you can earn these elemental powers. The best water slide is the Double Barrel Drop. It’s really cool because you ride through these funnels where you’re tossed back and forth and there are disco lights in them, and then before you come out at the end there’s a big drop. Coyote Canyon has always been a family favorite too. Mom only rides them once, but Dad loves them.”